It'll get better
by kurojiri
Summary: The bitterness could be countered, they all knew that; it was just sometimes hard to see past it when a war had crumbled their foundations.


**Whumptober and Fictober 18 gives me life.**

 **Prompts Used: "I can't walk." ; "Some people call this wisdom."**

* * *

They never said it out loud. Not when they had been in Hogwarts, it had been a quiet slope. Strange for Ginny, but perfectly natural for Draco. The only person that made it possible to work had been Luna; she had always been the type to work the best when confronting a path in her life. She knew how Ginny worked and how Draco spoke.

Her smile had become both their rocks, respectively. With her soft voice and her gentle reminders that everything would sort itself out. Ginny with her temper and almost predictable recklessness (that Gryffindors were well-known for) had always made Draco wonder why he allowed her inside his circle. Why he left the Slytherin dungeons and escape for a couple of hours he did not have to see the infamous Ravenclaw and one of the most popular Gryffindors from aside the infamous golden trio. He had hated that they caught on to his worries.

Sixth and seventh year had been a complete experience that he would never want to repeat.

They had their own issues and by some weird conversations later they became their own triad. A hybrid that settled Ginny's chance to vent, a place for Draco to simmer and one for Luna to be, well Luna. It had been rough in the beginning with Ginny always having a reflex to hex, while Draco wanted to scream his head off; but somewhere, a confession slipped and a few stray tears too. A clumsy bridge had been built making it almost impossible to detect an opening that Draco could use to leave. It had been futile. Luna's own misty eyes had crushed him.

They all each had their own problems and they all had something to say about them. In a way, it had made sense that their confessions would eventually lead them to the strangest beginnings of them becoming more than comfort pals. A lift that poured into their souls when they all shuffled together. Hogwarts had been a home to each of them; for reasons that made sense to themselves. Yet, it had also become a prison in some ways that it broached into each of them into pursuing a echo of their dreams and ambitions.

A war had passed. And so, did their childhoods a long time ago. For different and similar results, they all edged closer to each other. Which had only concluded for Luna to stretch her love in humanity, for Ginny to cling to her dreams and for Draco to pick and choose his own reality he wanted for himself without looking back at his past.

"Some people call this wisdom." Ginny had said so when they kept coming back to their meetings to discuss their persistent flashbacks from when they all fought.

"How? How could they call them that when they have is their ghosts of their regrets plummeting inside their consciousness since the war ended?" Draco remembered when he replied back during that day.

Luna murmured softer in the background before Ginny exploded.

"Of knowing the evils first-hand. Sometimes, it takes a new generation to bring forth peace, even if it brought some misgivings afterwards. Nobody right now would want to hastily start another war."

Ginny had slouched from her chair when she looked at both Draco and Luna. "Still. It makes anyone wonder why it'd have to of happened either way. The price of knowledge and curiosity of immorality from one person."

They stopped talking about it for a couple of days. But it still hadn't made the real world less unnerving with its politics and repercussions.

It hadn't been easy to adjust. Not when people had all their assumptions ready to fire away; or when each of them had thought that the war would be the true end to most of their worries from a crumbled government. They all had been naive from the beginning, as much as kids could be when the war picked their words and actions. Each had done their best to live in their own presents. But now, when the war had been officially finished, they all had their horrors still pressed against their chests and nerves. They all had different reactions; but they all had the same tears that they kept at bay at certain requests for themselves. Oh, they had people to cling to.

However, it seemed that Luna, Ginny and Draco had come far to only really crumple when all three were joined together by their fears. In the span of Draco's eighth year it had become a mock of their happier days. Their physical wounds did disappear but, it had been their time together creating the bridges that connected them that showed how resilient and fragile they each were. The world may have been recovering faster with noticeable changes but it had almost seemed like a lie to smile when neither person of their group could at full percent. That had been Luna's spotlight. She had her wits to begin the process of their triad.

With her specialty of being a natural optimistic she had made it easier to trade their truths and weakness when they met up. Ginny with her forwardness had edged closer to make Draco wear his emotions more openly. (A trait many Slytherins would not have approved; but had felt good for him to do anyways.) That had sparked for them to have more conversations ranging from childhood expectations to personal demons that made them all shiver.

Scars that none of the group would have wanted to resurface but did eventually pop up.

"I can't walk." Draco's own voice held no illusion that he was happy. He was bitter and open to them. "I can't walk without judgement. And while I do understand why; it still hurts to know that I will be forever be known for my past mistakes even if I try to seek redemption."

Ginny's face still so strong even after her tears had dried her cheeks. "You were prat before the war." Her statement had no real heat, just an openness of understanding his position. "Didn't mean that you were an automatic murderer. The real people you want to associate with after Hogwarts will know who you really are though."

Luna gave him her famous gentle dreamy smile. "It won't stay like this forever. You have us."

They all rested shoulder to shoulder with Luna in the middle. A breath of silence filled into the room before Luna clasped one hand from both sides. And with a voice filled with promise, she looked at the windows where the sky was clear with a sun high in the sky.

"It'll get better."


End file.
